Alanson revitalizing

August 05, 2005|BY KIRSTEN FREDRICKSON NEWS-REVIEW STAFF WRITER

Alanson revitalizing

ALANSON - Some 30 years ago, it was just a weedy hill, a vacant lot that dotted part of Alanson's downtown area.

Then some volunteer community members came along. They cut back the weeds, built flower boxes that lined the hill and landscaped the vacant lot. Each year since 1982, volunteers from the village have returned to the revitalized site, planting rows and rows of flowers.

Hillside Gardens is now a bright, colorful spot in Alanson's downtown.

And what happened on that hill, is happening again throughout downtown Alanson. It's a revitalization in full force.

Creation of a Concept

For decades a group of Alanson community members were talking about ways the village needed to be spruced up. Ten years ago, some of them decided to take action, forming the Alanson Improvement Group.

"We had some really bad blighted places," admitted village mayor Dick Weidenhamer, who also has been involved with the group. "We started out to try and improve the town."

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Weidenhamer said the goal was to "make the town a better place to live." And the Alanson Improvement Group began to do so by investing in properties, cleaning them up and then selling them back to community members or organizations.

"All were in major areas that needed to be spruced up," said Tom Fairbairn, current president of the group. "It just snowballed. Now we've got a good thing going here."

Along with slowly cleaning up property, the improvement group also decided it was time to come up with a concept for the downtown, something the village would be able to use in the creation of a master plan.

"The impetus for this (revitalization) started several years ago with the Alanson Improvement Group. They commissioned a planned engineered study of what the possibilities were … just to create a vision," said Doug Houseworth of Houseworth Realty. "Those seeds were planted and I think now the community has gotten involved. It's really the community that's doing this."

The Alanson Improvement Group hired Wade Trim, Inc., who put together a village survey and created a downtown conceptual plan. Soon a village master plan was drafted.

Around the same time the conceptual plan and master plan was developed, another discussion in the village began. With the improvements that were possible, the formation of a downtown development authority could help in the creation of this downtown vision.

"It was a tool that could be used to revitalize," said Genevieve Loyd, a village council member and member of the newly formed development authority. "There's just a lot of possibilities we can do with that. It gives the village the ability to do things that without it they couldn't."

Loyd said that a lot of improvements to the community have been made without the development authority. Business owners and community members have been pro-active, but she said with the authority the village could do even more.

"Whatever we decide we want to do we can do, like a boardwalk and fountains, sidewalks, fairs, festivals or art in the park … whatever," she said. "We're not obligated to do what we put in our plan, but we can't do what we don't put in our plan."

Houseworth, president of the newly formed authority, said the scope of the downtown development authority's plans are "ambitious," but noted that "it doesn't mean any of it is going to happen. It just means that we're putting forth the vision."

The downtown development authority wants to have a completed development plan of their potential projects put together no later than December. And they want community input in order to get it done.

"The only frustrating thing is not getting enough community input," Loyd noted. "What I don't want to see is that we put together this wonderful plan and then someone comes along and says 'Why did you do that?'"

Putting plans into actions

Drive through downtown Alanson today and you'll likely note that a lot of things have changed. And it's all happened in the last few years.

"It's changing faster now than it has in a long time," mayor Weidenhamer said. "I think we're headed in the right direction."

For example, improvements to the village park near the village hall have been ongoing for several years. New playground equipment has been added, along with improvements to the basketball court, a new water fountain and a wooden train for children to play on.

"There was just nothing there before then," said Georgia Waterson, a village council member. "We've had a tremendous amount of people use that park (now). Every weekend it's taken up with huge numbers of people picnicking there. They just come from all over because there isn't a playground like ours."

And there's still more to be done, like new tennis courts and a gazebo where Waterson said she hopes to one day see concerts in the park.

"We are also working on Morgan Park … down by the river. We put a new grill and there are picnic tables there," Waterson said. "We have a good Samaritan that's come forward so we're going to fence that off."